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Thursday, April 21, 2011

Ooh Child, Things Are Going to get Easier (Note to self: Sing this on a regular basis for the next four weeks)

I'm struggling with this week we have off. While I appreciate the school's desire to honor Holy Week, the practicality of it escapes me. With all the activities there are to attend, it hardly feels like we have time off before we're back to school again on Monday. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) no one asked me.

We have decided to make a major upheaval around here involving moving two boys into new rooms, which involves cleaning three rooms from top to bottom to make room for the stuff coming with each new boy. It also means cleaning three closets and going through the laborious task of rotating clothes in all the closets. When I ask the boys to try something on for the sake of seeing if it fits, they act as if I might as well have asked them to wear make-up and paint their nails.

Currently, I'm in the part of the process where one room looks as if it has spontaneously combusted. Deciding what needs to stay and what can go is not as easy as I had thought. The project needs hours of dedicated time...a rare commodity. Monday, we took the preschool carpool to school, went for a run, made it to Confession, grabbed a slice of pizza, picked up the preschoolers, and cooked dinner for three families. Tuesday, I really wanted to move on the rooms so I started the project and then remembered the Cumberland Island wet stuff that was still marinating in the garbage bag it came home in. This sparked the washing of seven; yes...seven loads of laundry. Clothes are clean - rooms are still not done.

Today, the three big kids got invited to help with the preschool Easter Party and I surprisingly found myself kid free for four hours. I ran to three stores to get church clothes for all the kids, stuff for the Easter baskets and Easter dinner. Of course all that shopping made me hungry so I grabbed a sandwich and ate it in the parking lot of the third place. I was driving home to unload the Easter surprises before I picked up the kids when I realized I still had an hour before I had to get them.

I was totally and utterly amazed at what I had accomplished in three short hours, which also included two thirty minute drives across town. I had forgotten what it was like not to have to go to work in the middle of the day. I was giddy about what could be done with an extra three hours.

We had friends over for dinner so the rest of today was spent preparing. Even though I do it on a regular basis, it seems to always catch me by surprise that cooking a nice meal takes hours and hours to do. It kind of stinks to spend that much time creating something that gets consumed in a matter of minutes...or worse, doesn't get consumed at all.

Now suddenly it's Holy Thursday and that will be followed by a full day of Good Friday activities which in turn will be followed by holiday prep and Easter. My stomach starts to turn at the thought of going back to work on Monday.

There...is...not...enough....time.

Lest you think I'm totally focused on chores, the past few days have also included a great pizza picnic, some lunch conversations, amazing 2nd grade story writing, Kindergarten and preschool puzzle solving and 5th grade art projects. We’ve also done some Karaoke, taught dance lessons to a soon to be married couple and played in the sprinkler.

I wish I knew how to achieve a better balance. I really don't know how moms find time to spend hours outside with their kids on a regular basis. It seems that there are moms out there who find the time to do day trips with their kids while still having a house that is clean and in order. How, oh how do they do it?

We've even cut out TV and still I can't find the hours to get it all done. I'm currently eyeing two baskets of folded clothes that I've yet to put away and they're driving me crazy. I've had to cut down on the blogging in order to fit some moments of sleep here and there but that's making me crazy too (skipping the blogging that is, not getting the sleep).

Nelson wants me to work on a project I've been talking about for the last three years. I want to work on it. I'm just having a slight issue with figuring out how to carve out a few more hours out of my day. So far I've been highly unsuccessful.

Maybe if I work on a sleep only every other day schedule, I might get it all done. Of course, I'm really thinking that the reason I feel so out of sorts probably has more to do with not sleeping enough.

Don't worry. I know this is not the end of the world. In fact school is out a mere 4 weeks from Friday. I can do this for 4 more weeks...really I can. I can go to bed and I know that things will look different in the morning. Sometimes however, even though I know all these things are true, I need to write it down anyway and work through it to get it out of my system.

Hmmm...appears I got that accomplished. Things are looking better already.

4 Comments:

Just reading what you do makes me tired and overwhelmed! Do your kids help out a lot? You mentioned laundry--my kids fold and put theirs away. It is not always perfect (especially in the boys room) but I have let that go to give me one less thing to do. Anyway, I hope you find some balance and truly allow yourself to relax when school is over.

Nicole, I worked on chores for the kids over the summer and it went great but it took a ton of time to teach them and oversee the work. Needless to say, I let it go when I started work. I only have 4 more weeks of school though so I will hit it hard again soon.

You have more kids than me. Other than having them help out, do you have any other hints?

One day at a time. ;) Also, I don't know you well enough to be saying this, but I think you need to learn to say no! I can tell from reading here that you are full of compassion and a desire to serve your family and others. But it seems your well is running dry. I was so happy to see that you took a trip with your husband, you needed it. It is very hard to say no to a call to serve--I would do so much more if I could. Somewhere between kid #5 and #6 I started to scale back. This was in part because our fifth child has a challenging disposition, but also because I could see us running ragged. Only you know what you can handle and what works for you though. I hope you figure it out, especially if you are going to continue teaching. Good luck! And just to be clear, I'm not being critical or judging your beautiful service, just telling you what we have had to do in our home to maintain a tenuous grip on sanity.

Nicole, You are right...so very right. It's a weakness of mine to say yes to everyone. Believe it or not, I've said no a few time recently. But next year I hope is going to be different. A few of my biggest commitments are changing or being dropped so I'm hoping for a big change. Thanks so much for your concern.